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SOME 18,316 Jamaican children who should enter basic school for the first time this year have no names on their birth records, setting up a birth certificate crisis that will play out when the new school year begins in September, the state-run Registrar-General's Department (RGD) fears.
The children who are in the 2-3 age group, were born between January 1, 2003 and August 31, 2004, the RGD's civil registration and marketing manager Dr Damian Ffriend told the Observer yesterday.
Hoping to head off the crisis, Ffriend sent out an urgent appeal for immediate action on the part of parents or guardians.
"We wish to advise all parents with children entering school for the first time this year to apply for their children's birth certificates now," said Ffriend. "It is imperative that parents seek to begin the process of late registration or late entry of name immediately for all children, whose registration is not complete. This will prevent unnecessary challenges at times such as GSAT."
Ffriend said that parents involved had registered the children at birth but did not add their names at the time of registration and apparently had just not bothered to do so.
"So there will be a record of the birth of the male or female child of 'so and so', but no name has been added," he said.
Friend explained that after the child was born at hospital, the parents were supposed to get a notification from the institution, which they should then take to the local district registrar. But very often, because they had not paid the hospital bills, some parents did not go back for the notification.
"There are cases too when some parents harbour superstitions about naming their children before birth and so are not ready with a name at birth. After that they neglect to go to the local district registrar to add the name."
Trelawny was the worst hit parish with 612 children, representing 49.4 per cent of all births in that parish in the 20-month period, followed by Kingston with 43.6 per cent, or 6,292 children. Third worst off was St Mary with 39 per cent of all births in the period, or 1,012 children.
Dr Ffriend said that because of the severity of the problem in Trelawny, the RGD gathered its staff and journeyed to the north coast parish on May 23 to participate in a Labour Day project "of a different kind".
The RGD drew over 800 people to the Community Church in Falmouth Square and at the Clarks Town Police Station to make applications for their birth, death and marriage certificates, as well as participate in record updating activities such as late entry of name, late registration and addition of father's particulars.
"Some 518 applications were made on that day," Ffriend said.
The RGD team also used the opportunity to make public education presentations on registration procedures, services offered by the agency and the ways of accessing these services.
As a gesture of goodwill the RGD provided searches for birth entry numbers to the residents free of cost, waiving the usual search fee of $100 each, said Ffriend.
RGD statistics also indicated that a large percentage of adults themselves in Trelawny do not have birth certificates, which meant that "a great percentage of residents in the parish would not be able to benefit from World Cup Cricket commercially, as they do not have a TRN and other relevant documents, which cannot be obtained without a birth certificate".
The mobile service of the RGD had previously visited communities in St Ann which has 36.7 per cent or 1,212 nameless children; Clarendon with 14.7 per cent, or 864 children without names; and St Thomas with 29.1 per cent, or 660 children.
The breakdown for other parishes show Hanover with 25.3 per cent or 214 children; Manchester with 17.2 per cent or 1,468 children without names; Portland with 13.8 per cent or 199 children; St Andrew with 9.2 per cent or 543 children; St Catherine with 13.8 per cent or 1,334 children; St Elizabeth with 31.5 per cent or 704 children; St James with 19.8 per cent and Westmoreland with 20.5 per cent or 901 children.
"We hope to reach the entire Jamaica with our services through campaigns like these," Ffriend said.
SOME 18,316 Jamaican children who should enter basic school for the first time this year have no names on their birth records, setting up a birth certificate crisis that will play out when the new school year begins in September, the state-run Registrar-General's Department (RGD) fears.
The children who are in the 2-3 age group, were born between January 1, 2003 and August 31, 2004, the RGD's civil registration and marketing manager Dr Damian Ffriend told the Observer yesterday.
Hoping to head off the crisis, Ffriend sent out an urgent appeal for immediate action on the part of parents or guardians.
"We wish to advise all parents with children entering school for the first time this year to apply for their children's birth certificates now," said Ffriend. "It is imperative that parents seek to begin the process of late registration or late entry of name immediately for all children, whose registration is not complete. This will prevent unnecessary challenges at times such as GSAT."
Ffriend said that parents involved had registered the children at birth but did not add their names at the time of registration and apparently had just not bothered to do so.
"So there will be a record of the birth of the male or female child of 'so and so', but no name has been added," he said.
Friend explained that after the child was born at hospital, the parents were supposed to get a notification from the institution, which they should then take to the local district registrar. But very often, because they had not paid the hospital bills, some parents did not go back for the notification.
"There are cases too when some parents harbour superstitions about naming their children before birth and so are not ready with a name at birth. After that they neglect to go to the local district registrar to add the name."
Trelawny was the worst hit parish with 612 children, representing 49.4 per cent of all births in that parish in the 20-month period, followed by Kingston with 43.6 per cent, or 6,292 children. Third worst off was St Mary with 39 per cent of all births in the period, or 1,012 children.
Dr Ffriend said that because of the severity of the problem in Trelawny, the RGD gathered its staff and journeyed to the north coast parish on May 23 to participate in a Labour Day project "of a different kind".
The RGD drew over 800 people to the Community Church in Falmouth Square and at the Clarks Town Police Station to make applications for their birth, death and marriage certificates, as well as participate in record updating activities such as late entry of name, late registration and addition of father's particulars.
"Some 518 applications were made on that day," Ffriend said.
The RGD team also used the opportunity to make public education presentations on registration procedures, services offered by the agency and the ways of accessing these services.
As a gesture of goodwill the RGD provided searches for birth entry numbers to the residents free of cost, waiving the usual search fee of $100 each, said Ffriend.
RGD statistics also indicated that a large percentage of adults themselves in Trelawny do not have birth certificates, which meant that "a great percentage of residents in the parish would not be able to benefit from World Cup Cricket commercially, as they do not have a TRN and other relevant documents, which cannot be obtained without a birth certificate".
The mobile service of the RGD had previously visited communities in St Ann which has 36.7 per cent or 1,212 nameless children; Clarendon with 14.7 per cent, or 864 children without names; and St Thomas with 29.1 per cent, or 660 children.
The breakdown for other parishes show Hanover with 25.3 per cent or 214 children; Manchester with 17.2 per cent or 1,468 children without names; Portland with 13.8 per cent or 199 children; St Andrew with 9.2 per cent or 543 children; St Catherine with 13.8 per cent or 1,334 children; St Elizabeth with 31.5 per cent or 704 children; St James with 19.8 per cent and Westmoreland with 20.5 per cent or 901 children.
"We hope to reach the entire Jamaica with our services through campaigns like these," Ffriend said.
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